People in the North East can have a sigh of relief as militancy appears to be on the way out. According to the Centre, the region has never been as peaceful as this since January 2009. As per the Union Home Ministry’s data for six northeastern states, excluding Mizoram, the last 15 months have witnessed lowest number of civilian and security force casualties since January 2000, ANI reports said.Nagaland has witnessed dramatic change. In 2010, Nagaland did not witness a single militant related casualty.The death toll declined from 213, including 140 extremists in 2008 to 31 in 2009.Credit for this is attributed to the ceasefire agreement between NSCN (I-M) and the Union Government. People are of the opinion that militants should join the mainstream and renounce violence.“With peace and harmony coming back to Nagaland, a lot of development has taken place and when it was back 5-10 years and I urge all the right seeking people to come and join mainstream,” said Pezanguli, a local, Nagaland.The ongoing efforts of the Centre to bring ULFA to the negotiating table and ensure the surrender of groups like the KLNLF and the DHD (J) has given hope to the people of the region. There were 424 incidents of insurgency, which resulted in 174 deaths of civilians and security personnel in 2009.The forces eliminated 194 extremists, the highest since 2003.In Assam, there is a considerable reduction in militant incidents.“If I look back few years back, the security situation was really bad in the state. There were too many bomb blasts and in the morning when we used to see the newspaper, we get scared to go to office or anywhere but now things have changed and violent activities have come down,” said Pushpa Gogoi, a local, AssamAmong all northeastern states, Manipur continues to be worst affected.Militant groups active in the state are responsible for instability and violence.Blasts, extortion, hurling grenades in markets and at residences are a common strategy of militants to terrorize the people.However the people here want an end to bloodshed and have expressed their complete faith in the constitutional framework of the country. Most of militant groups indulge in extortion.“When we see the violent activities committed by the different sections of antisocial elements and militants, then we say extortion case, demand or kidnapping. I think the economic factor comes in between as militants are not guided by the ideology and the antisocial elements are committed into it mainly for money,” said Ksh Bimola Devi, Professor, Manipur UniversityNortheast has long been affected by militant activities and this has led to a delay in the development of the region.But it seems the situation is changing. And as peace and normalcy return, developmental work will certainly gain momentum.